Agency Report –
Investors in the Nigerian stock market traded a total turnover of 3.132 billion shares worth N76.552 billion in 61,456 deals this week on the floor of the Exchange.
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd., NGX, weekly report made available in Lagos, said this in contrast to 2.252 billion shares valued at N58.831 billion that exchanged hands last week in 63,657 deals.
Consequently, the value of transactions traded by investors on the Exchange advanced by 30.12 per cent.
The Financial Services Industry measured by volume led the activity chart with 2.336 billion shares valued at N33.014 billion traded in 27,100 deals.
This contributed 74.59 and 43.13 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Services industry followed with 284.988 million shares worth N807.646 million in 4,638 deals.
Third place was the Consumer Goods Industry, with a turnover of 139.010 million shares worth N5.704 billion in 6,469 deals.
Trading in the top three equities namely, Wema Bank Plc, Secure Electronic Technology Plc and Access Holdings Plc, measured by volume accounted for 1.437 billion shares worth N15.406 billion in 5,292 deals.
This contributed 45.89 and 20.13 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
Accordingly, the NGX All-Share Index and Market Capitalisation appreciated by 1.22 per cent and 1.26 per cent to close the week at 103,598.30 and N63.645 trillion respectively.
This was against 102,353.68 and N62.851 trillion respectively recorded in the previous week.
As result investors gained a total of N794 billion for the week under review.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of NGX Insurance, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Oil and Gas and NGX Sovereign Bond which depreciated by 1.20, 1.20, 0.93 and 0.10 per cent.
The NGX ASeM, however, closed flat.
Meanwhile, 44 equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 33 equities in the previous week.
Forty four equities depreciated in price lower than 57 in the previous week, while 64 equities remained unchanged, higher than 62 recorded in the previous week.
On listing, Lasaco Assurance Plc listed an additional 9.250 billion ordinary shares of 50k each on the daily official list of Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX, in the week under review.
The additional shares listed on NGX arose from Lasaco’s Private Placement of 9.250 billion ordinary shares of 50k each at N1.20 per share.
With the listing of the additional ordinary shares, the total issued and fully paid-up shares of Lasaco Assurance has now increased from 1.834 billion to 11,083 billion ordinary shares of 50k each.
Looking ahead, Analysts at Cowry Asset Management Ltd., predicted that the current positive market sentiment is expected to persist into the coming week.
The analysts said that this would be supported by the release of corporate earnings and anticipated corporate actions.
They noted that the financial results published so far have been encouraging, providing a foundation for sustained price support and attracting fresh capital inflows into the market.
“Moreover, the prevailing low valuation of many stocks continues to create opportunities for investors to buy into value and strategically reposition their portfolios.
“However, the market may experience bouts of volatility as the earnings season progresses.
“Mixed macroeconomic data and upcoming economic events are likely to influence market sentiment, particularly for companies with December year-end financials,” they said.
